Lantos’ daughter calls for ‘Solidarity Sabbath’ in Europe, N. America

BUDAPEST, Hungary (JTA) — The daughter of the late California congressman Tom Lantos called for a “Solidarity Sabbath” to be held in Europe and North America.

Katrina Lantos Swett made the suggestion on Tuesday at the “Jewish Life and Anti-Semitism” conference, a two-day forum being held in Budapest sponsored by the Tom Lantos Institute.

During the Solidarity Sabbath, the heads of governments and state leader would attend a Sabbath service at a major synagogue in each city “to express solidarity with the Jews and also to join together in opposing hatred and bigotry,” Lantos Swett said. The special Sabbath would be held in the spring.

“We join together in deep solidarity to express our rejection of any form of anti-Semitism in our nations,” said Lantos Swett, the co-chairman of the institute’s executive committee, adding that “we will join our voices to send an unmistakable message to those who would tolerate such hatred.”

The institute, a human and minority rights organization with a focus on the Jewish and Roma communities, was launched in Hungary in May 2011. Tom Lantos, a Hungarian-American, was the only Holocaust survivor ever elected to the U.S. Congress.